As you've probably noticed on https://groups.drupal.org/node/470648 -- we're planning to create a new Drupal 8 User Guide. The Twin Cities Drupal Camp is coming up on June 25-28, and they invited me (along with Joe/eojthebrave who was already going to be there), to jump start the User Guide project by holding a documentation sprint on their community sprints day, Sunday June 28. So, we're going to do this!
The User Guide project coordinators will be setting up tools, guidelines, templates, and an outline before the day of the sprint (or at least we are going to do our best to get all of that in place; forgive us if it may be a bit rough to start with, but we'll have something that everyone can work with at least).
Then on the day of the sprint, both local and remote participants will be able to choose a topic from the outline and write it, hopefully adapting existing Drupal.org documentation as much as possible.
If you can make it to Minneapolis on Sunday the 28th, we'll see you there in person! Information about the sprint location is at:
http://2015.tcdrupal.org/drupal-core-and-contrib-sprints
(and from there you can find general information about the conference, how to get there, etc.).
If you cannot make it to Minneapolis in person, you can also participate remotely. We'll be in IRC in the #drupal-docs channel from 9:30 AM to 5 PM (Minneapolis/Chicago time zone). So, you can join us there and we'll find you a topic to work on. IRC information:
https://www.drupal.org/irc
Let's get this going!
(And sorry: we probably won't be ready to have anyone start working on this project until the 28th. It takes a bit of coordination...)
Before the sprint
It will be very helpful for sprint participants to learn how to use Git (clone a repository, make changes to one or more files, and create a patch file) before the sprint. Ways to learn this:
- Read the Novice Contributor documentation: https://www.drupal.org/novice
- There is also some really detailed documentation in the Git section of the Drupal.org community docs: https://www.drupal.org/documentation/git (check out the Installation section, then https://www.drupal.org/node/707484 and other pages in the Tutorials section may also be useful)
- Attend Drupal Core mentoring hours, which are oriented towards making patches for the code and documentation in Drupal Core (so mostly for PHP or JavaScript programmers): https://www.drupal.org/core-office-hours
- If you are attending the Twin Cities Drupal Camp in person, go to the Get Involved in Core sprint long enough to get set up with Git before moving to the User Manual sprint table: http://2015.tcdrupal.org/drupal-core-and-contrib-sprints
That said, if people who do not know how to use Git attend the sprint, we won't turn them away... but it will be easier if you can manage to learn the Git basics before the sprint. Thanks!
Comments
A few more notes...
If you can't make it to that day, in Minneapolis or remotely, you can still participate in this project! We plan to set up:
- An email list (Google Groups probably?) for participants
- A weekly meeting for participants (in IRC)
- Some way to assign and track writing and editing tasks at the topic level
This will be in place on or soon after June 28th, but probably not before then.
Also it seems like we will probably not apply for any funding until we see how it goes initially with volunteers in the first few weeks, given the really awesome level of enthusiasm on https://groups.drupal.org/node/470648
After we see how things are going, we may decide to do one or more of the following:
- Apply for small grants to have more sprint days at Drupal camps (funds to fly in a coordinator for an in-person sprint)
- Have remote sprint days where everyone is in IRC and people are not gathered in any particular place
- Apply for funding or set up a Kickstarter (or similar) to get funding, either for writers, editors, or coordinators
That's just not certain now.
So... watch https://groups.drupal.org/documentation and we'll keep you informed!
Drupal programmer - http://poplarware.com
Drupal author - http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920034612.do
Drupal contributor - https://www.drupal.org/u/jhodgdon
So excited to have you visit
So excited to have you visit and to participate in this!
+1
Good start!
Would be waiting for the updates on exact time slots as I am planning to participate remotely and in different timezone.
Sree
The times are pretty close
Well I am pretty sure the sprint will start at 9 AM or 10 AM that day (and the time I put in was 9), and I'm pretty sure it will end around 5pm. So aside from maybe starting an hour later, I think those times are good enough for your planning purposes. Hope to see you in IRC that day!!
Drupal programmer - http://poplarware.com
Drupal author - http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920034612.do
Drupal contributor - https://www.drupal.org/u/jhodgdon
Time updated
The Twin Cities Drupal Camp has posted the sprint times on their site. The start is 30 minutes later than I had thought: it will be 9:30 AM to 5 PM Chicago Time on June 28th. I just corrected the post above.
See you all there!
Drupal programmer - http://poplarware.com
Drupal author - http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920034612.do
Drupal contributor - https://www.drupal.org/u/jhodgdon
Learn Git!
I just added a section to this page asking for sprint participants to please learn very basic Git usage before the sprint, if possible. It will be very helpful if all participants know how to:
- Clone a Git repository
- Edit a file in that repository
- Make a patch file containing their edits.
Resources for learning Git are listed in the page. Thanks!
Drupal programmer - http://poplarware.com
Drupal author - http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920034612.do
Drupal contributor - https://www.drupal.org/u/jhodgdon
As a follow up to this. If
As a follow up to this. If you're going to be at the in-person sprint, and not participating remotely, I will be able to help you find things to work on that do not require you to know Git. And/or to pair you up with someone who does. So, while knowing Git is helpful (and you'll likely need to know a bit if you want to keep being involved going forward), it is not a hard requirement.
And. The Twin Cities camp will also be running a First Time Sprinters workshop in the morning that will serve as a great place to get some Git background for anyone that wants to brush up.
Contributor instructions posted!
We'll have a more detailed post in https://groups.drupal.org/documentation about this project coming later today... But I wanted to let you know that we have posted instructions and guidelines for contributors to the User Guide project at:
https://userguide-drupal.redesign.devdrupal.org/guidelines/index.html
Later today we'll be finalizing at least part of the outline -- picking out some topics that people can get started writing on tomorrow -- the sprint is in about 26 hours and we'll definitely have some projects for writers to work on! See you then, in IRC or in person!!
And what Joe says is right -- we have structured this project so that knowledge of Git and making patches is really not all that necessary. So don't let that stop you! If you want to get a head start, go ahead and read through the guidelines now, and make sure you have an IRC chat client ready to go, and we'll see you tomorrow!
See https://www.drupal.org/irc to get going on IRC by the way...
Drupal programmer - http://poplarware.com
Drupal author - http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920034612.do
Drupal contributor - https://www.drupal.org/u/jhodgdon